Slow getting this one out there

Let me talk about Throwing up Words - -

Yes, you heard me right - as in not unlike the act of tossing your cookies, hurling hunks and blowing chunks,
. . . . writing is a lot like this, according to Carol Williams and company, because sometimes it's the only way.

In any case, The great group at Throwing Up Words are running a Project Writeway Exercise (not to be confused with Writeway, the professional writing software). This contest, patterned after the popular TV series Project Runway, is a battle of words.

Last week saw the posting of the first 150 words of your Middle Grade or Young Adult novel.

I entered.

I already agonize over the mistakes I made in those mere 150 words. Can you imagine what it would be like for a full blown novel - particularly after it's 'set in stone' and has been printed! No wonder writers have such well-developed inner critics. Oh well. That's the life of writing - you get something down, you hit send and then within days (if not hours) of that act, you start seeing all the problems within it.We've honed the craft of self doubt over the course of years and years of work.

I guess this is when I most identify with my characters. It's these deep bouts of doubt. The internal harangue, the pummeling from within that comes when you start thinking that there was any chance whatsoever to become (or do) what you might wish or hope for.

Check out the entries -- there are 60 of them -- here

I like this post on what agents look for and writing style.

Do you want the cold hard truth? I honestly think there are very few entries that would have caught an agent or editor's eye, if any. Including mine. But . . . what are these things for if not to improve our writing? That is the end goal after all.